Today is a Beautiful Day
by Auron Belmont
Summary: Condor Joe recalls his long road on the path of vengeance. Does he get his wish? Spoilers for the whole series and slight AU if you know the real story of the other series.


**Today is a Beautiful Day**

I am Condor Joe. Vengeance is my strength. Today is a good day to die.

I lost count how many times I've repeated that mantra to myself but I know it's at least once a day and once before every mission since I joined the Science Ninja Team. Normal people probably say a Hail Mary or something.

But I'm hardly normal. More than ten years have gone by since my life changed forever. It seems like a long time and the blink of an eye at the same time.

The familiar metal object in my hand feels warm and solid, a comforting weight in my palm.

* * *

My parents were gunned down in cold blood by a woman wearing a mask. We'd been in a remote resort and I'd been on the beach, playing in the sand. Sunlight danced across the water, sparkling like diamonds. The sharp retort of twin gunshots and the cry of my name caught my attention and I raced to the table where my parents sat.

Both of them had been shot right between the eyes. Their faces are what I remember the most: twisted in fear, mouths gaped open to scream. Bone, blood and brain oozed trails from the exit wounds. For a few seconds I just stared at them, sickened and fascinated.

My eyes darted to the gun hanging loosely in my father's grip. Without any plan, I took the gun and aimed it at the woman in the mask. Smirking, she threw a flower into the beach sand. I didn't understand why she'd done that. I kept advancing with a gun, wanting to get a clear shot.

Then all hell broke loose as the flower exploded and I hurled into the air.

I should have died right then and there. It was the plan after all. Instead, a traveling doctor took me to a hospital and away from that horrible, terrible place. It was only when I was safe and in another country that I could recall who had killed my parents.

They were called Gallactor. I finally had a name for my parents' killers. For the pain they put me through, I swore I'd repay them a thousand times over and destroy them.

* * *

Damn, I can't hear anything from here. I can't tell what's happening right now. I guess all I can do is wait and see. I glide my fingers along the metal and bide my time.

* * *

If you're really going to swear your life to revenge, you can't be half-assed about it. It's not a part-time, afterschool kind of job, but a full-time occupation. Even I didn't really want to at first, until I thought it over.

Let's say it was just a guy trying to rob them, shoots them and kills them. The police would come out, view the scene, figure out what happened and then catch the guy. You go to court, bad guy gets the chair or life in prison. No matter what he gets, justice is served.

But this was a shadowy organization. No local policeman is going to ever catch these guys. That's what chapped my ass the most, even as a kid. They'd get away with murder and there wasn't a damn thing that I could do.

I couldn't leave it to any cop or judge in any country. I'd have to get revenge on my parents myself. About that time, I started telling everyone my name was Joe. My friend Allen nicknamed me "Bad Boy Joe." I'd have to be a hell of a badass to take on Gallactor, so I changed my name so I _could _be that person all the time. My name is Joe. I will swear revenge on Gallactor. I will defeat them someday.

I'm not sure if the doctor who found me, a Doctor Nambu, was afraid for my life or trying to protect me, but I didn't get sent to any public orphanage. Instead, I got shuttled around to various groups within the International Science Organization, staying at this guy's house then that family's house. It suited me fine, because with my parents dead, I knew how easily life could be snuffed out.

Besides, I was Bad Boy Joe now full time. I didn't need more parents. I just needed to avenge the ones I'd had. I learned to take care of myself and not make too much trouble for anyone looking after me. I pestered anyone with any useful skill to teach it to me.

My father had taught me healthy respect for firearms so I knew the basics. Spending time with scientists studying weaponry I learned how to fire about every kind of gun there was, assembling and reassembling weaponry and what ammo did the most damage. Another group specialized in building and testing vehicles that created little to no air pollution.

At twelve years old, one of the testers allowed me a chance at the wheel. That very first time driving around the track with me in control, it felt like I was flying across the ground and I laughed in complete joy. At high speeds now, I still get giddy, knowing the power at my hands.

I think even then, I might have turned out different. I knew how to handle firearms and I excelled at martial arts classes. Racing professionally seemed like a way to go with life. I still wanted a way to smash at Gallactor, but I only heard rumor and suspicions from the other ISO scientists. It was nothing concrete I could use as fuel for my hatred.

Doctor Nambu changed my life again when I saw him again at 16. He was sure Gallactor was planning something that would come to fruition in a few years. He asked if I'd join a top secret project aimed at stopping Gallactor once and for all.

Finally. Years of patience, of honing my skills could be paid off. I signed on without even asking what I'd be doing or giving up. You know, it's strange, but I think the doctor looked sad at how eagerly I signed up.

"Joe, I'm not sure you understand how dangerous this might be."

"No. You don't understand how dangerous this will be," I said, all grim seriousness. "I know how these people are. They need to be stopped and I'll help you. No matter what I have to give up."

I remember him sighing and rubbing his glasses. "Very well. Consider yourself part of the testing phase. If you pass, you'll be given a special codename."

At seventeen, I did just that and earned by codename. Condor Joe. I got down on my knees and thanked God for finally giving me my chance. My name is Condor Joe. Vengeance is my strength. Today is a good day to die.

* * *

Damn dust in my eyes. It's everywhere so trying to wipe it away is like spitting in the wind. I keep a good grip on my weapon and wait for things to settle.

* * *

At first I thought I'd be a one-man army taking on Gallactor, but the doctor had other ideas. I'd have to work with a team. That was new. The first meeting, I dismissed all of them as being too weak to do any good. I mean, a chick and a kid? A big fat guy who'd tell anybody how much he liked to sleep and eat? Please. Even Ken seemed too clean-cut for what we were trying to pull off.

I know for a fact they didn't have any idea of how ruthless the enemy could be. Damn me, but I was saddled with a group of kids. As the training wore on and we started learning more about the breadth of the organization, it knocked the sense into them all. Belatedly, the four of them knew any mission could result in death.

I think it was Jinpei and his harping on being a descendant of ninjas that got us into the right mode. Ninjas lived their life in death, fully committing their lives to every mission. Took a while, but everybody else finally caught up with me. Every moment past the mission would be a glorious bonus in our lives and every moment in the mission could be our last.

That's probably when I grudgingly accepted them as a package deal. It turned out to be the smartest thing I've ever done. While I knocked on their skills in my head, in reality, everybody brought something different to the table. When we made it out alive from our first Firebird Mode, I knew then I couldn't take on Gallactor alone.

Yeah, yeah, Dr. Nambu said the Science Ninja Team wasn't a tool for personal revenge. But damn if I didn't roll with it. Being able to fire a bird missile and finally destroy something with my own power...it was a release for my revenge. Like remembering the first time you slept with a girl, the first time with me firing the missiles was magical.

And kinda like my first time having sex, I shot off our ammo too fast and quick. But I'd learn. The team, respecting my marksmanship, pretty much gave me carte blanche on bird missiles. Unless Ken was being an ass with leadership and suddenly HE had to be the one.

Ken, Ken. Gatchaman. Even though I've lost count of the times he's pissed me off, he's also the one who's tried to understand me. I'm a solitary person and I usually don't hang with people on a regular basis. Instead of chiding me, as everyone else did, Ken accepted it.

Maybe that's why he's the first person on the team I told about my parents. I got the drop on two Gallactor goons that would have killed Ken and in the middle of telling him to be more careful, I said it. He didn't say anything back at the time, but I know he looked really surprised.

Later on when I was late for a mission, he let me know where to meet with one of my own feather shuriken. He didn't have to do anything like that and the fact he chose to made me feel good. We still fought like cats and dogs on a hell of a lot of things because he'd have his head in the clouds. If anyone needed to be a devil's advocate on this team, it'd be me.

Somewhere along the way, Jun, Jinpei, Ryo and Ken became my team. Or maybe I became a part of theirs? Hard to say when I was so fixated on one goal.

Although Gallactor was the object of my revenge, its leader, Berg Katse, deserved special attention. I couldn't be sure, but I knew if he was the leader, he'd have to have some hand in the deaths of my parents. Bat-eared freak, the first time I got to see him up close and personal, I tried to rip his mask off. He shoved scalpel in my arm! If he hadn't run, and I hadn't been in agony, I would have murdered him then and there.

Not long after that, I became the first on the team to get their ass really handed to them. I would have rather had Katse stab a scalpel into my chest than the pain of shrapnel into my head. Our bird style outfits supposedly could withstand all kinds of shit thrown at them. Nobody bothered to test the helmets against flaming hot shrapnel.

Why the hell did I have to save that damn dog? Oh wait...now that I think about it, it was Jinpei. He'd been all uptight about saving a baby whale whose parents had been killed. I told him to keep his mind on the mission. Then he yelled at me, saying, "You don't know what it's like to be an orphan!"

It must have echoed in my head for a while because I really wasn't thinking when I tried to save that dog. Who'd have thought Bad Boy Joe still had a heart, hunh? Stupid kid, making me take my eyes off the mission. Kinda funny when you think about it. All of them have accused me of having no heart and being paranoid. The one time I try to be kind when I don't have to, I get a piece of pain to the brain.

Maybe God was telling me to keep my eyes on the road. Or the universe giving me the finger. Whatever. I managed to recover from that after some serious stomach churning spins in the God Phoenix. I also learned something really important.

If I died, someone would cry for me. Even as I writhed in agony, Ken was there. He tried keeping me together when I felt his tears fall on me. They all were saddened. It took me aback. I'd tried so hard to be so independent and solitary and here four people liked me anyway.

As time went on, they all started to grow on me. I didn't cut them any slack and they still pissed me off to no end, but I'd always fight for them. I don't think I changed that much, but I think they all more or less accepted me how I was. I'll always be grateful for that.

When we thought we'd lost Jun forever, everyone else got dragged down by their spirits. Me? I was flaming pissed. Ryu yelled at me for being too hard on Jinpei. For my part, I couldn't understand why he just sat in Jun's snack shop, wallowing in his sorrow. I screamed back, "He should fill himself with hatred for Gallactor. That hatred will help him forget. That's what I did."

Incidents like that proved that while we were all on the same team, we operated on completely different levels. Ken yelled at me for manhandling a guy in another mission, trying to find some gold coins. Know what? If it's all connected to Gallactor, they don't deserve pity and they sure as hell don't deserve kid gloves. I don't know why it was so damn hard for Ken to believe that.

Speaking of our fearless leader, he did a lot of hauling ass on his own. I've bitched about Ryu and Jinpei being impulsive and lazy, but Ken's quest to meet his dad really screwed us over. He just took up and left and without his G-1, we couldn't use missiles or the Firebird. It got so bad the doctor had to hardwire the God Phoenix so it thought G-1 was there.

Jun says we should try looking at the silver lining of every cloud. All right, because of that and other stunts where he took his ass off, I got pretty good at leading the team. Nobody screwed around with me at the helm and they knew it. Although I can't blame Ken entirely. He did watch his father sacrifice his life for the planet. I know what it feels like to lose your parents.

Ken lost his mind for a little bit when that happened. His bloodthirst even took me by surprise. Me, Condor Joe, had to tell him to relax that hand of revenge. "Ken, you're just burning for revenge. It's all you're focused on. You know, seeing you like this is like taking a good long look in the mirror and I really don't like what I'm seeing, my friend. Besides, vengeance doesn't suit you."

It didn't. Not for any of them. Without realizing it, I'd managed the fine art of controlling my revenge. It's a skill that very few people should ever know how to handle. Apparently I did, letting it sit quietly, wrapped around my heart until I could let loose at the right possible moment. For Jinpei, he didn't have it in him to be angry, only at a loss when he thought Jun had died. For Ken, the real death of his dad turned him into an ugly monster.

With time, me and others gently prodded him into another direction. Instead of vengeance, Ken turned his anger toward the cause of justice. That was fine by me. I knew then and there I didn't want the four of them to end up like me. Sure, I could control the hatred inside me, but it'd been there so long it permanently affected how I saw the world. Everyone could be an enemy for Gallactor. Most of the time, I was proven right.

I remember this one mission me and Ryu were hunting down Katse and I saved him on more than one occasion. Jesus Christ, he stopped to save a baby deer and almost ended up like me, blown to bits. "You dumbass! Which is more important? That animal or your life?"

"You got no heart, Joe. Or compassion. Or humanity!" Ryu fired back.

I couldn't argue with him there. I'd honed my body and my spirit to be as hard as they could for the cause and if it meant losing a few things in my soul, I didn't care. However, I think that's when I tried to see the world through the eyes of my friends. There's no way I could just be compassionate or have a heart, but I could imagine what my team might do. Maybe I'd be better, I told myself, once we destroyed Gallactor. Then I could really see if I had a heart.

That plan got incredibly derailed by something I never would have guessed. A few weeks after that mission with Ryu, I started having really intense dreams of when my parents were murdered. Because of them, bright light made me flinch and my head throbbed. After all this time, something wanted out.

Ken, of all people, helped me figure out what it was. Even when I balked at facing what haunted me, he grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to look. And look I did.

My parents hadn't been randomly killed by Gallactor. My parents were killed because they were high-up Gallactor agents themselves and were trying to escape.

Oh my God. My world damn near dropped. They'd been such good people. I...I don't understand how it could be. But it was. Hell yes it was. So the parents I'd idolized and swore revenge for were really the enemy?

It killed me so deep inside that the team would have been surprised. I didn't have a heart, after all. Well, something felt like it'd been stabbed and mutilated.

On the tenth anniversary of my parents' deaths, I traveled back to the island I'd been born. I had to be sneaky about it, because I was technically deceased myself. Gallactor Island, it was nicknamed. My enemy owned my home and without my bird style, I took them on toe to toe. While dodging the soldiers, I reconnected with my friend Allen.

He'd become a priest and tried his best to teach the kids of the island so they wouldn't be punk asses like me or him. He also didn't care much for the Science Ninja Team or Gallactor. When I asked him why, he said all we did was drag innocent people into the fight. The team had killed his fiancee, after all.

The picture stirred a memory in the back of my head. Me versus a Devil Star assassin, flower bomb versus feather shuriken. I pinned that bomb to her chest and watched her blow up with satisfaction. Screw Gallactor.

That one deadly day on Gallactor Island, I lost count of how many soldiers I killed. I know it was enough it even slaked my thirst for the death of my foes. They, in turn, shot me up pretty good. For the second time, I really thought I was going to die, bleeding out my Gallactor tainted blood on the altar of a church. A fitting sacrifice, one dying Condor.

The team leaped from nowhere to save my ass, which I hadn't expected at all. Then Allen showed up with a shotgun to take out Ken and I...

Jun once called me fast and quick to take action in a situation. I followed through true to form and shot Allen right between the eyes. Thought and consequence crashed into my chest a second later. When Ken checked the shotgun and found out there were no bullets, I completely lost it.

What the hell had I done? What was Allen trying to show me? He'd told me before that revenge couldn't bring people back from the dead. That I'd feel empty inside.

After the team helped me onboard the God Phoenix, no one said a word to me. It was the first time they'd seen me murder an innocent man and seen me without a shred of dignity to my name. Just as well. It took me three or four days before I recovered from my injuries.

Then, something odd happened. Each of them took turns watching over me. I'm not sure who's suggestion it was, but they did it for a week straight. Ordinarily I would have screamed at them to get off my ass and leave me alone. But they knew me better than I thought. I'm not ashamed to admit I thought of pulling a gun on myself.

First my parents were agents of Gallactor. Then I killed a man who I called friend in cold blood. What was the point of my vengeance anymore? And if I didn't have that, where did it leave me? Sweet, sweet bullet to the brain and then it'd be all over.

Ken invited me to crash over at his place, pulling my trailer near his airstrip. The weather turned to crap and it was a little unsafe to drive all the way back to the racetrack. I'm pretty sure while I had to use the bathroom at his apartment, he hid anything that I could use as a weapon. So, lacking that way out, I slept on the spare bed and stared at the ceiling.

I had killed Allen, but in fairness, he'd raised a gun at my leader. Because we are a team designed to protect each other, I fulfilled that duty. Guilt was natural. I'm sure it happened to policemen all the time, but somehow they toughed it out. For the love of God, I don't know what Allen meant to show me. I already knew destroying Gallactor wouldn't bring my parents back and as for feeling empty, it didn't matter. My own teammates said I didn't have a heart.

My parents...my parents were agents of Gallactor. But I was different. I'd never join their ranks. They were killed because they tried to leave. Maybe it meant that in their own hearts, they wanted to do something good for a change? That they got fed up and wanted to be free? Or maybe they wanted something better for me. They wanted to escape to save me. That made a lot of sense.

Sorting out these burdens in my soul helped. It also redoubled my hatred for Gallactor. God damn them for killing my parents. And God damn them for making me kill Allen. Yes. I shouldn't be doubting myself. I should hate my enemy even more. It would see me through like it always has.

The next day I felt relieved. I also felt grateful to Ken for watching over me, even if I'd never breathe a word to him about it. So I wanted to protect him, because I never want any of the team to go through what I went through.

I still didn't cut his ass any slack, especially when Ken seemed to lose heart in the fight. As I needled him, Ken admitted misgivings for our G-machines to have weapons. I called bullshit on that, since he was the one who advocated them in the first place. I told him, "Well, then you might as well give up on revenge for your father and let me handle Katse for you."

I'm not sure if he completely gave it up, but I know he didn't have the temperament for it. Like I said, you can't be half-assed about revenge. And honestly, I didn't want him to be like me. Let me take the revenge of Ken, Jun, Jinpei and Ryu on my shoulders. Let me pick up the slack for the rest of the families in the world who'd lost people to Gallactor.

My name is Condor Joe. Vengeance is my strength. Today is a good day to die.

After we lost the Crescent Coral base, I started getting weird dizzy spells and my head hurt like hell. I thought I was just tired from the constant fighting, which was getting close to two years. But it came and went. What was going on with me?

Fear turned my blood to ice. If I had some kind of illness, there's no way Doctor Nambu or anyone else on the team would let me go on a mission. They'd retire my ass faster than I could say Berg Katse. Shit, shit, shit, shit! I just had to hang on for a while longer! I knew we'd crush Gallactor one day!

So I started to lie. Or really, I started misdirecting everyone. I confused them with my anger and surliness. I'd had some reputation at being rebellious so I played it to the hilt. Having me be disagreeable was normal. All I had to do was hang on until we won. Then I'd take bed rest until I was an old man.

I faltered badly one time when I couldn't stay in a Tornado Fighter or see straight to shoot. Being afraid of my health is one thing, but putting everyone at risk because I couldn't make my eyes focus? God.

Ken went so far as to really lay into me. I responded in kind and we scrapped it out in an alley. I think it's funny my head decided to keep it together for that fight. It helped fool Ken and it gave me extra time to stay with the team. Just a little more time and then I'd rest.

Instead, the universe decided to give me the finger. Again. Thanks to rat bastard Berg Katse.

You see, one time Jun lost her shoe in a mecha. Gallactor's goons found it and starting cracking into the secrets of our bird styles. They went so far as to make a gun called a Mechanizer that reversed our transformations. Painfully. I found that out the hard way when I got nailed in the leg with it. The team forced the Mechanizer to overload and we figured that was the end of that.

Not so. While I was pulling the wool over everyone's eyes about my health, I'd been seeing an unlicensed doctor. When I visited once to make him force a quick examination, I happened to see the female general of Gallactor. She didn't have a name, but she was bad news all around. I tailed her and followed her into a mecha.

Gleefully I tore into every Gallactor goon I could find, winding my way into the beast's belly. "Where's Katse?! Condor Joe's come a'callin!" Then I saw that rat Katse slink away and I ran to follow.

I'm hard on myself for many things. For letting innocents die in a fight. For letting people give their lives for my sake. For screwing up a mission. I can't quite muster the same emotion for running into the path of a brand new Mechanizer. There's no way in hell I would have ever known it was there, ready to fire.

Later, the team came to my rescue and I forced the beam to backfire on Katse, revealing his mutant form. But it was too late for me. They'd knocked me out of bird style and Katse knew what I looked like. My "secret" identity was a secret no more.

I think it was then I had the vaguest idea of where everything was heading. I kept away from the others on the team from then on. Like I said, I hate having people get hurt for my sake. My hunch proved right as Gallactor plucked me from the middle of a race to their flying fortress.

They wanted to force me to reveal the identities of the others. Please. They picked the wrong Science Ninja to interrogate. In spite of the danger, in spite of the dizziness and pain in my head, I felt alive! I knew I was close to the end of this fight. Mauling through the goons, I taunted Katse and killed many. But my head started pounding and then they mauled me in return.

Barely conscious, I heard Katse give an order. Something about Krakorum Cross. They planned on using me as bait to lure out the rest of the team to do God knew what. I'd never let that happen. My breathing ragged, I managed to get the drop on my captors and ran for safety.

Which happened to be OUT the fortress. The flying fortress.

Lots of people think because we're the Science Ninja Team, we can soar like real birds. That's not the case. We glide on air and we can jump higher than a normal person, but we can't fly straight up. Freefalling three miles isn't recommended either. Shock nearly took my life but I recovered my wits enough to change to bird style and land on the street. And get almost hit by a car. Then it goes black.

I came to in my civilian clothes, lying on a hospital bed. Bruised and battered, I was lucky to be alive. Or so I thought. The doctor taking care of me was talking to someone on the phone. I can only guess it was Doctor Nambu. He talked about the bruises being the least of it. They must have did tests on me while I was out. He said there was a problem with brain injuries, especially like I had.

Wait a minute. Brain injury? Before I could think it over, the doctor said metal fragments remained and had done irreversible damage. If given a time estimate, I had a week to 10 days left to live.

Honestly, my heart stopped. A week to 10 days? A week to 10 days?! A WEEK TO 10 DAYS?! Stunned, I left the hospital and walked around, without any rhyme or reason. A week or 10 days? That's all I had left? Twenty years old and that's all she wrote? I didn't even bother convincing myself the doctor was mistaken. This lingering illness, this pain in my head, it would be the death of me.

If anyone on the team ever heard this, I'd never be allowed to touch a weapon ever again. I'd be hooked up to all kinds of machines and I'd never be able to fulfill my promise for revenge. Holy shit, my mantra never sounded so accurate.

Well then, I decided I'd have to do whatever I could to take as many Gallactor freaks with me. Krakorum Cross. That seemed like a good place to be. Maybe I could take out an important base in my last few days. But how to do it and not jeopardize the team?

Doctor Nambu, of all people, gave me an out. When the team was ordered to check on earthquakes plaguing the globe, he ordered me to stay off the mission, talking about my condition. "So there IS something wrong!" Ken exclaimed. God damn, I didn't want any of them to worry. In exchange, I let them take my G-2. I wouldn't them be less than fully armed. In the silence that followed, I realized I was saying goodbye to them all, even if they never realized it.

After I watched them leave, it was cake to escape and drive off. I'd never be able to say goodbye, but there just wasn't time any more. They'd have to take care of themselves now. With no God Phoenix to fly on, I had to take a flight to the Himalayas. Krakorum was near there.

Jet lagged and not sure how much time I had left, I sneaked around the area in bird style. In a valley surrounded by giant mountains, the ground looked littered with statues and a huge outline of Leader X. Holy shit, it must have been the biggest base I've ever seen. Unlike every other base, this one came loaded with guards who found me right away. And then they said it. That stupid guard who'd let me go in the flying fortress said I'd found Gallactor headquarters.

I had five, maybe six seconds to fire off a message to Ken before the goons shot off my bracelet and knocked me out of bird style. I don't know how many there were, but I'd come prepared. At that point, it didn't matter. After years of work, honing my body, my soul, my will, I'd finally found their headquarters. A crazed laugh bubbled out of my throat. "You think me being like this saves you at all? Well guess what."

My heart exploded in my chest. Finally. Finally! FINALLY! "I _am_ Condor fucking Joe! Vengeance is my name! Today is a good day for all of you to DIE!"

If I saw an arm, I flipped it. A body, I shot or kicked it. I jumped high in the air and rained feather shuriken on them all. Ahahahahaha! Gallactor! Yes, thank you God. You gave me my chance.

It came down to me and the one stupid guard. My feather shuriken versus his gun. We fired at the same time. I killed him but his gun...damn, he got me and without my bird style, it hurt. It finally forced me to stop and I slid to the ground in exhaustion. I'd done it. I'd given everything I had to the cause.

Maybe that's why I started seeing visions of the team and the doctor. Being sick didn't matter. Dying didn't matter now. When I was up against a corner, I didn't hesitate. I stayed true to the cause. "Man...I'm tired," I whispered.

About then, another patrol showed up. I didn't have anything left to give, so I stared stupidly at them as they pulled me to my feet and dragged me away. I couldn't see my own face but I imagine I looked resigned to my fate. There's no way I'd come out of this alive. But that's all right. I'd always been prepared to die.

Unable to fight, I couldn't do shit about their torture. They used their rifle barrels, their fists, their feet and my head...God damn my head....

They shot me with something, like pure adrenaline and for the first time in weeks, I can't feel my head throb and my vision is clear. Walking was torture after all they'd done to me. Katse is there, taunting me as usual and fire back as good as I can get. He then reveals his grand plan to me that threatens the entire world. Fueled by the drug, I manage to overpower my two guards and flail one of my last feather shuriken. I don't know if I wanted to aim at him or at that counter, but I can see the flexible weapon sink inside the machine. Good. I hope it breaks your plan and sends you all to hell.

Then the unthinkable: the God Phoenix is approaching! The team would destroy the headquarters finally. But wait...they'd have no idea how to get inside. My body was broken, but I knew I had one last mission for the team...

* * *

It's so cold out here. As battered, blood spattered and broken as I am, I can still feel the cold. The only thing with any warmth left is Ken's boomerang in my hand. It's still warm from him handing it to me. At least I got to say goodbye to them all.

Ken, I'm so sorry. You never would understand why I couldn't tell you. None of you could. You're all so...different from me. As it should be. But it's all right, you know. For the first time in a long time, I feel at peace. I did what I set out to do.

The earth feels like its tearing itself apart and all I can do is lay here helpless on the ground. Then silence. I can't hear anything. No more soldiers, no bombs exploding, no machinery.

I laugh. They must have done it! They must of stopped the machine and killed Katse! They did it. I'm so happy that I tear up and it clears away the blood a little bit so I can see.

Oh. Look at that. The sky's such an intense blue.

My name's George Asakura, but I like being just Joe. For the millions of people who lost their lives, including my parents, vengeance has been taken. Let me...be the last....

And today... Today is...a beautiful...day...

_Siiiiiigh._


End file.
